


hold your shields high

by LucyInTheSky (WishingTree)



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: 5+1 Things, F/F, Gen, team fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-21 07:49:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11353041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WishingTree/pseuds/LucyInTheSky
Summary: As Rangers, defending each other was simple. Maybe not always easy, but protecting each other in their armour was nice and straightforward.Protecting each other while not in their armour, when all they got to be is high school students?That was a little more complicated.aka 5 times trini defends her friends and 1 time her friends defend her





	hold your shields high

**Author's Note:**

> minor warning for swearing, offensive language on a whole lot of stuff from the bullies (racism, ableism, social class discrimination, general insults)

As Rangers, defending each other was simple. Maybe not always easy, but protecting each other in their armour was nice and straightforward.

If there’s a hit coming at your teammate and they’re not ready, you defend them against it. If they get knocked off their feet, you help them up, or you protect them until they can get up themselves. If they don’t see a blow coming at all, you either block it or you take it for them.

Easy to understand. Simple.

Protecting each other while not in their armour, while they’re not Rangers? When all they get to be is high school students?

That was a little more complicated.

 

 

1 – Team

 

Trini was laughing while Zack tried to throw skittles into Kimberly’s open mouth at the lunch table, Jason reprimanding them for making a mess, when they were interrupted by a group of guys, all wearing letterman jackets. They weren’t the football team, so Trini knew they weren’t top tier of the social hierarchy, but they clearly thought highly of themselves, and Trini scoffed even before they started to speak.

“Well, well, well, looks like we found the loser convention.”

Against all of her better instincts yelling at her to keep out of the way and avoid attention, Trini rolled her eyes. “Wow, that’s real original,” she drawled sarcastically, “Really? You came to pick a fight in the caf?” 

Kimberly had a pained look on her face, but Trini couldn't tell if it was a murderous glare or a despairing plea. Either way, Trini obliged and sat back in her seat, closing her mouth.

The jock narrowed his eyes at her, but then straightened up imperiously. “Let’s take roll call, shall we? We’ve got the busted up failure of a quarterback, the biggest bitch in town, the demented freak, the deadbeat trailer chink, and… the new girl. Deedee, was it? That’s a stupid name.”

“You’re telling me!” She kept her elbow on the table but made an exasperated motion with her hand. “God, that doesn’t even sound like my name. Whatever.” Trini’s blood boiled and she was completely ready to fight this guy, but she knew she couldn’t be seen throwing the first punch. _Never escalate a fight unless your enemy forces you to._ It was Zordon’s bullshit rule, but it was a good one.

The bully just sneered and then went back to ignoring her. “Jason, Kimberly, you’re keeping great company these days. Remember when you used to be the popular ones? I don’t know what’s worse, you hitting the bottom like this or these guys starting there. Although, I guess you’ve got no one to blame but yourselves, eh?”

There was a suspicious cracking sound, and Trini spotted Kimberly’s hand gripping the edge of the table so tightly indents were appearing under her fingers. Luckily her other arm was crossed over it, and Trini quickly reached over to place her hand on top of hers.

Kimberly sucked in a breath and slowly loosened her grip, letting Trini lace their fingers together and then putting her other hand over Trini’s, holding it between her own. Eying her carefully to make sure she was okay, Trini shifted sideways on the bench to be closer to her while glaring daggers at the bully, hoping he’d get the message to leave them alone.

Clearly he didn’t, surveying them all with a malicious look in his eyes, and then he leaned down towards Billy, the one sitting closest to him. Obviously uncomfortable, Billy shrank back immediately, confusion shining on his face.

“Uh – ”

Trini leaned over and swiped Jason’s soda can, not even bothering to hide the intention when she spilled it down the front of their newest bully's pants.

“Whoops,” she said flatly as he shouted, bored expression on her face and not sounding the least bit repentant.

In the background, some of the other students in the cafeteria exclaimed, the elation spreading, and Trini sighed, because this being a public stand wasn’t going to help at all.

“You’ll pay for that, bitch,” he hissed, fixing her with a murderous glare, and Trini pushed down the instinct to shrink back, recognizing the look from countless other bullies from other schools both willing and able to make her life miserable. Instead she painted a smirk on her face, meeting his eyes steadily. The need to defend her friends was greater than her need to fall back to her safety net of social invisibility.

“Looking forward to it,” she said, managing to sound completely uninterested as she turned dismissively back to face the table.

 

 

2 – Billy

 

“We should get going if we want to have time to go to Krispy Kreme after training,” Trini commented, checking the time on her phone.

“Well then I guess we should start moving, because I don’t intend to miss out on you paying for our date.”

“Me?” Trini pocketed her phone and quirked an eyebrow and Kimberly, “I won last time, that means it’s your turn to pay.”

“I’m sorry, are you forgetting the part where you almost knocked over my coffee so I had to save it, allowing you to get the last piece of donut?” Kimberly came closer, wrapping her arms around Trini’s neck.

“Now, I think…” she pressed a kiss to Trini’s cheek, “… that means…” she pressed another kiss to the opposite corner or Trini’s mouth, “…it’s your turn to pay.” She kissed her properly, teeth nipping gently at Trini’s bottom lip before pulling away and leaning her forehead against Trini’s. “…Don’t you?” 

Breathless, Trini wracked her mind for a comeback, but only ended up stuttering, “…F–fine.” 

Kimberly brightened, bending to press another quick kiss to her lips. “Okay, you go get Billy and I’ll get the other two. Meet in the parking lot?” 

Trini nodded, and Kimberly squeezed her hand once before pressing another kiss to her cheek and stepping back. Trini watched her go, not moving until she’d disappeared around the corner, and then blinked herself out of her daze. She mentally shook herself and then turned around, heading for Billy’s locker.

Rounding the corner, Trini drew back as she saw two people standing in front of Billy. She recognized them from detention, but as far as she knew they’d never had any interaction with the Rangers.

“Hey, I’ve got a riddle for you. A joke. You like jokes, right?” The first guy was tall, taller than Billy, and it was clear he was used to using his height for intimidation.

Billy hesitated. “Uh, yeah – yeah, I do like jokes. When I get them they’re funny.”

“Okay, here goes. What’s got two arms, two legs, and is so fucking stupid he can’t even use a pencil without making a mirage out of it?”

Billy kept hesitating, eyes darting around as he clearly searched for the answer, and Trini jaw started to hurt from how hard she was clenching it.

The second bully reached out and shoved Billy’s shoulder, causing him to stumble back a few steps.

“He asked you a question, freak.” 

“Better not get so close to him! You don’t want to get infected with retard.”

There was suddenly a hole where Trini’s hand had been resting against the wall, and Trini withdrew her arm, shaking the plaster off. She sent a mental apology to the school before storming down the hall, having heard more than enough.

They didn’t notice her coming, too busy laughing at Billy’s expense, but Billy was still watching them with wide eyes, holding his books to his chest as he tilted his head questioningly.

One of them crossed his arms and leaned towards Billy. “So what’s it gonna be, huh?” 

“Or are you just too dumb to figure it out?”

“Billy?” Trini stepped forwards, purposefully angling her shoulder to get in front of Billy without crowding too close to him, “Oh no, he’s anything but dumb. Me, though? I guess I must be, because I don’t get the joke either. You wanna explain it to me, homeboy?” 

They looked her up and down with matching sneers on their faces, but they also took a step away, which was what she wanted.

Dread prickled over her skin as they sized her up, but she squared her shoulders, feeling Billy poke inquisitively at her back.

“Also, I don’t know if you meant mural or collage, because even though they’re still wrong at least they’re art related, but mirage definitely isn’t the word to use.”

The one who had spoken it originally glared darkly at her, mouth opening and closing, and Trini held her ground, silently daring him to go ahead and say anything else.

“Let’s get out of here, man,” the second one muttered, knocking him in the shoulder with the back of his hand. “This ain’t worth it.” 

He narrowed his eyes at Trini as they backed away, and Trini didn’t move until they disappeared around the corner and she couldn’t hear their footsteps anymore. Only then did she let herself deflate and turn to Billy. She opened her mouth to ask if he was okay, but he spoke first.

“You’re not dumb, Trini.”

Trini looked up at him, confusion showing on her face, and he hastened to clarify.

“You’re not. You said you are, but you’re actually really smart! You do really well in school, and you know so many things, and you’re really good at explaining – ” 

“Oh, right. Um, thank you. But I didn’t mean it literally, it was sarcasm.”

“Oh! Okay, got it.”

He was still shifting on his feet unsurely, and Trini waited, glancing over her shoulder to make sure the bullies weren’t coming back before looking at him.

“You okay?”

He nodded, and then scratched the back of his head. “Um, what was the joke?” 

“There wasn’t a joke, Billy. They were making fun of you.” 

“Oh.” Billy stayed quiet for a second. “Hey, thanks for that then. I didn’t realize what they were doing.” 

Trini held out her hand in a fist bump, mirroring the gesture he had given her not so long ago at their very first campfire. “You got it, Billy. Anytime.” 

  

 

3 – Jason

 

The murmur of voices coming from down the hall had a menacing timbre to it, easily recognizable to anyone who’s made it a habit of avoiding bullies.

Distracted from where she was texting Kimberly about their weekend plans, Trini looked up and then crept forward, peering around the corner. She saw a group of guys crowding around Jason who had his back pressed against the row of lockers, and Trini shifted uneasily.

The text from Kimberly remained on her screen, and Trini glanced down at it once before looking back up at the crowd of jocks gathering around Jason’s locker. She quickly typed out a message saying she’d get back to her in a couple minutes before slipping her phone into her pocket and focusing on the situation in front of her.

“Look, I have to get to class – ” Jason made to move past them, but a pasty guy with dark hair and a cruel glint in his eyes slammed him into the lockers behind him with a hand on his chest.

“Not so fast, pretty boy.” 

His friends snickered like it was the cleverest thing they had ever heard, and Trini rolled her eyes.

“You aren’t team captain anymore, which means, as the newest shitstain of Angel Grove, you have no more power. We can do whatever we want to you, and no one’s gonna stop us.” 

Immediately, Trini felt her pulse begin to pound and she flexed her hands, clenching and unclenching them into fists. She counted eight guys there, all muscular football players filling the hallway, but with her Ranger abilities Trini knew she could actually take them.

Trini saw Jason grit his teeth and curl his own hands into fists too, squeezing so tightly the skin of his knuckles whitened, but he stayed still otherwise, most likely not wanting to risk hurting anybody or revealing his powers. 

Well. Trini should probably try to follow his lead.

Except right now Trini didn't care.

“Hey, why don’t you pick on somebody your own size?” 

Trini was more than a solid foot shorter than most of them, and she knew this must be a comical sight, her glaring up at half the football team.

“Not now, bitch, you’ll get your turn later. I’m going after the once great Jason Scott today."

“Ooh, name calling. I’m so scared.” He rolled his eyes and scoffed, still focused on Jason, but she kept glowering up at him. “You can keep saying whatever the hell you want about me. You don’t get to touch my friends,” she threatened.

“Trini – ” Jason started to say something before he was cut off.

“I don’t give a damn about you or your _friends,_ ” the lead jock said, looking at her with an incredulous expression on his face. “I’m just here to give Scott a message, and I could definitely beat you too, if I wanted.” He curled his lip and waved a hand at her as he said it, as if ushering her away, and Trini quirked an eyebrow at him.

“Okay. Prove it.” 

He paused, finally looking at her, and she smirked, balancing her weight in preparation.

“Come on then, dipshit. Gonna hit a girl?” she taunted.

The guy growled and swung at her, the exact movement Trini had been waiting for. She ducked it easily and he stumbled, face turning a blotchy red as he clenched his jaw angrily and tried again. Because he was closer to her this time, when she ducked his fist collided solidly with the locker, and even Trini winced at the loud noise of hand on metal. 

He yelled and tried to punch her sloppily with his other hand, and Trini actually laughed as she sidestepped. This seemed to serve as some sort of cue for the others, because they finally decided to involve themselves.

It was now eight against one, and Trini wasn’t worried in the slightest. If anything, it was a workout and a chance for her to practice Kimberly’s preferred style of fighting. Trini’s aggressive way wouldn’t work here, especially since she was trying not to touch any of them. One of the football players tried to rush her, and when she jumped to the side he bowled right into one of his friends, taking them both down and causing Trini to snicker.

Trini knew she had an aggressive fighting style, and honestly she was proud of it, but Kimberly's method was all about dodging, and that? That Trini could use.

The next moments were full of a flurry of limbs and growls and curses as Trini managed to avoid every single attack they tried.

At one point she jumped and planted her foot on a locker handle, using it to propel herself into a flip over their heads. She landed in a crouch, tilting her head challengingly when they all turned and protested their confusion. They rushed her again, and Trini was tempted to tell them they’d be much more effective if they tried to be less sloppy. She rolled to the side, laughing at the clang of locker doors as the football players kept missing her, but she knew it was only a matter of time before they all got caught if this went on.

Thinking fast, she jumped over an extended arm and charged at a redhead with a split lip, but ducked at the last second, diving forwards and somehow somersaulting around them to get back in the center of their loose circle.

Her back hit the locker next to Jason so they were shoulder to shoulder. In front of them, the jocks were staggering back to their feet, some bruised but all disheveled, and Trini was mildly impressed with the damage she had caused without laying a finger on any of them. Maybe Kimberly was on to something after all.

She flashed Jason a wicked grin and knocked him in the shoulder, enjoying his astonished expression. “I’ve got an idea, alright? Don’t get in the way.” 

Before he could answer she was moving again, ducking smoothly under another punch so gracefully that Jason made an envious noise, and then she was off again, whirling through the football players tiny and vengeful. After training against hordes of putties, this was laughably easy, and Trini knew the smirk on her face was aggravating them even more.

She listened carefully as she kept up her game of ducking and weaving, waiting for some indication that someone was going to show up and see what was happening, and her ears finally picked up the sound of heels clacking a hallway over as she did a backflip to get out of reach. Satisfied, she jumped back into the middle of the group and slid through someone’s legs so her back was facing the direction the person would be coming from. Waiting for the right moment, she braced herself, inhaling and exhaling.

Finally, she dropped her guard, standing up straight and letting her arms fall to her sides just as the original jock who had been shoving Jason around swung at her, his fist hitting her face with a sickening crack.

“Hey!”

Everybody froze as the unmistakable voice of a teacher rang out through the hallway, Trini leaning over slightly and dripping blood onto the floor. 

The teacher strode closer, and in a flash Jason was at Trini’s side. Her hunched over position caused her hair to hang down, and it created the perfect barrier for her to smirk at him. “Trust me, they’re gonna go down for this. I’m even bleeding!” she whispered gleefully.

Jason blinked at her, stilling his hands from where he was fussing around her nose. “You – this was your plan?” 

“Come on, you think they’d be able to hit me if I didn’t want them to?” 

A slow smile spread across Jason’s face. “Been spending a lot of one–on–one training time with Kim, have you?” Jason whispered at her out of the corner of his mouth, and Trini shot him a sly grin before her exaggeratedly pained expression slid back into place. She covered her face with one hand and groaned, ducking her head and staggering forward.

“What is the meaning of this?” the teacher demanded sharply, striding forward and hovering her hands in front of Trini, trying to peer between her fingers. “Let me see, Trini.” 

“They were ganging up on Jason,” Trini mumbled, wincing as she spoke, “I only wanted them to stop.” 

The teacher took a moment to examine her carefully, making a sympathetic noise at Trini’s bloody nose, and then she stood up, a no-nonsense look on her face.

“All of you, come with me. We’re going to pay a visit to the principal’s office. Jason, take Trini to the nurse.” 

Jason nodded and held an arm out to support Trini, and they slowly started to make their way to the nurse’s office, in the opposite direction of the principal’s.

“Miss, I'm telling you, she's like a ninja!” One of the football players protested, the others joining in.

“Right, that tiny girl managed to take your gang of football players out all on her own, making it an unfair fight for you? That's funny, Mr. Anderson, you can tell it to the principal.” 

Trini bit back a laugh, bringing up a hand to try and stem her bloody nose, and Jason snorted, though he hastily tried to cover it up with a cough.

“Thanks, Trini,” he said with a smile, and Trini nodded, giving him a bloody thumbs up and grinning.

  

 

4 - Kim

 

“Kim,” Trini whined, looking around the art classroom, “Do we have to do this now? We have to get good seats for the movie!” 

Kimberly laughed, “Come on, you big baby, it’ll only take a second! I’m just going to grab my art project. Go play with the crayons or something while I pack it up.” Kimberly waved her towards a table with art supplies scattered across it.

“Ooh,” Trini raised her eyebrows, but she blushed lightly when Kimberly laughed again at her interest.

Ignoring her, she moved over to the table and picked up one of the markers, eyeing a tube of paint and deciding it wasn’t worth it for the five minutes it was going to take Kimberly to get her stuff together.

She had just started to scribble on a blank sheet of paper when she heard two voices coming from outside the half open classroom door.

“You hear how she got them all suspended? Apparently she lied about them jumping her in the halls or something.”

“New girl’s a freak.” 

“I know, right? And just when it seemed like the football team might actually win something.” 

“Apparently Zeke got a punch in. She probably deserved more than that.”

The voices echoed from outside the art classroom along with the clang of locker doors opening, and Trini sighed, slowly putting down her marker.

There was a rustling behind her, and Trini turned to see Kimberly laying down what must be her art project. From the look on her face, Trini knew she had heard, and she winced inwardly as she stood up from her seat.

Frozen, Kimberly’s jaw worked soundlessly as her eyes widened in shock before she turned her gaze to Trini. 

Trini hurriedly tried to shift her focus away from the comment. “Yeah, I got a couple extra detentions from it, guess they managed to spin it so I was at least partially to blame. Whatever though, still worth it,” she said in a hushed voice and waved a hand dismissively, “As long as I don’t get into any more fistfights it’ll all be fine, none of it’ll show up on my transcript. Just leave it.” 

“No, they can’t – ” Kimberly started forward, but Trini grabbed her arm to stop her from charging out of the room and laying into them.

“Kim, it’s fine, I promise.” Trini pulled Kimberly towards her, wrapping both hands around her wrists and turning her around so they were face to face. 

“I don’t like the way they're talking about you,” Kimberly muttered, glowering at the floor, and Trini tipped her chin up so she could see her properly.

“It’s okay.”  

Kimberly held her gaze and eventually nodded, but just as she was pulling away they heard the locker doors slam shut and the voices start talking again.

“Fitting Kimberly’s hanging out with her now, her and all the freaks and losers.”

“Poor new girl though. Kimberly’ll probably ruin her too.”

When their voices and footsteps faded away, Trini finally turned back to face Kimberly, feeling frustratingly helpless at the sight of her stricken face.

Her shoulders were hunched and she was curled in on herself, hands wrapped loosely around her own waist, and Trini knew the look on her face. It was the look she got when she was starting to disappear into her own head.

Trini darted forwards and wrapped Kimberly in the tightest hug she could manage, throwing both arms around her. After a moment she felt Kimberly uncurl enough to place her own hands limply against her back, and then she buried her head in Trini’s neck, almost completely slumped over.

She half mumbled reassuring phrases, rubbing Kimberly’s back until she wasn’t shaking as much, and then she pulled back a little to try and talk to her.

“Kim, look at me,” she whispered, “Look at me. It’s not true, do you hear me? It’s not.”

“Trini…” Kimberly whispered, shaking her head, but Trini shook her head harder.

“It’s _not_ ,” she said fiercely, “You’re not going to ruin me, you’re not going to ruin _anybody_.”

Kimberly sniffled a little bit, shaking her head. “But what if I do?” she whispered brokenly, “It’s happened before.” The sentence was miserable, with the heartbreaking undercurrent of self-loathing, and Trini had half a mind to leave and punch the people who had been talking at their lockers just then.

“And you’ve learned,” Trini reminded her, “I _promise_ , you’re not that same person anymore.”

Kimberly stared at her, eyes searching her face desperately, and Trini hoped she found what she was looking for. She seemed to settle then, standing taller and breathing easier, and Trini felt her chest loosen.

Trini stretched up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to Kimberly’s forehead, and then moved to pick up her art project, lacing their fingers together so they could walk out of school. 

 

 

5 – Zack 

 

Trini was just coming out of the bathroom when her ears caught Zack’s name, coming from a gathered bunch of jocks and cheerleaders, and Trini would have rolled her eyes at the stereotype if she wasn’t so concerned about why they were talking about Zack.

“I saw his final project in class, he must have put a crap ton of work into it, it looked pretty good.”

“You’re serious?”

“Hell yeah. Who knew that deadbeat could actually scrape together some decent schoolwork?”

Trini seethed, quickly tangling her fingers together so she wouldn’t be in danger of breaking anything

She knew Zack’s project was good, she’d seen him working on it. It was the final paper for his English class, and the teacher said that if he did well the grade would automatically carry over to his final grade, so the Rangers had convinced him to go for it, and he had.

“Mr. Wilson will definitely believe it if he hears that Taylor paid some college student to do it for him.” 

“It might even be enough to get him expelled!”

One of the jocks guffawed. “Asshole barely ever comes to school as it is, it’ll be like we’re doing him a favor.” 

Trini growled, ready to storm over and punch them all out, but she’d be no good to the team suspended, and she needed to get to them before they planted whatever incriminating thing they were talking about.

So she crossed her arms tightly, staying tucked away in the bathroom doorway as they continued to cackle.

 

She spent the next few days poking around, and was able to get what she thought were most of the names of those involved, tracking them down to the locker room hallway just in time to overhear their conversation.

“You’re gonna love this, the plan to screw over Zack Taylor. We steal a copy of his paper, reformat it and leave it someplace the teacher will find. Then he’ll realize it looks familiar and accuse him of cheating, we start a couple rumors about him paying people to do his work, and bang, it’s a done deal.”

Stepping forwards, Trini cleared her throat loudly, reveling in their startled looks. “Hi, yes, hello. I heard everything you just said, and that’s not happening.”

One of the guys actually laughed at her. “You don’t have any way to stop us.”

Staying quiet, she fiddled with her phone for a moment, tapping away while they watched her with incredulous looks on their faces. Quirking an eyebrow, she let the pleased expression bleed onto her face when she wiggled her phone at them.

“So what do you want to call this?” 

She pressed play and held up her phone, the recording playing, “ _… the plan to screw over Zack Taylor. We steal a copy of his paper, reformat it and leave it someplace the teacher will find. Then he’ll…_ ” 

She clicked it off, a satisfied look on her face. “I’d like to call it leverage. And trust me, I have it saved to at _least_ 8 different places. I’ve had a few of my phones broken, so I know better by now.”

Knowing she had them pinned, she stood and waited for them to back down.

“What do you want,” one of the cheerleaders finally gritted out, hands clenched and eyeing her tensely.

“Back off of Zack Taylor. Don’t ever try something like this again, or the principal will find this recording, and I will find you.” 

She tilted her head up defiantly, pushing down the urge to try and hide herself, and made sure to control the grip on her phone.

They agreed, and Trini nodded tersely, slowly backing away, not trying very hard to conceal how smug she was feeling.

Just as she made it to the front doors of the school, her phone vibrated, telling her she had a new message from Zack. She opened it to see a picture of Zack lying with his head on a table, open books spread around him, eyes closed and mouth open, fast asleep. Half of Kimberly’s face was in the bottom part of the photo, a cheeky grin on her face as she pointed over her shoulder at Zack, her other hand holding up the phone to take the selfie.

Trini sent back a thumbs up and smiled.

 

 

+1 – Trini

 

Steely–eyed, Trini kept her gaze fixed straight ahead as she walked down the hall, absolutely not in the mood to deal with the annoyance that was Angel Grove High’s general student body population.

She was almost at her class when a hand grabbed at her backpack, wrenching it off of her shoulder. It was yanked it out of her grip and Trini whirled around, already glaring and on guard.

Standing in front of her and dangling her bag in his hand was the bully she’d spilled soda on all those weeks ago. 

“Give it back,” she said through gritted teeth, clenching her fists. The effort to hold herself still was causing her hands to shake, and she pressed her fists against her legs in an effort to hide it.

She didn’t bother looking around, knowing she wouldn’t find anyone willing to help. Leaving her glare leveled at him, she repeated slowly, “Give it back.”

“Or what?”

His lips curled up in a cruel smile, and in it Trini could hear every insult people had been throwing at her since school started, every snide comment, every criticism designed to be razor sharp and painful, designed to hurt.

“That's it,” Trini’s eyes flashed, “You know what?” She rounded on him, anger burning hot in her chest.

It had been months of bullies insulting her and the people she cared about, and she was _tired_. All she wanted was to make them all stop and back off, and she knew the fastest way to make somebody shut up was –

“Is there a problem here?” Jason’s voice cut in, loud and commanding.

Trini looked around, and Zack appeared in front of her, also glaring. “Hey, fuck off, assholes.”

Kimberly was standing at her side, and Billy angled himself in front of her, enough that she had to peer around his shoulder.

The bully didn’t look so intimidating anymore, not when she had people supporting her from all sides, but she still wanted to take her anger out on him. Luckily, Kimberly moved forward and took that option off the table.

“I’ll take that,” Kimberly said, plucking Trini’s backpack from his hand and stepping back so she was shoulder to shoulder with the other Rangers. “Now I think it’s time for you to leave.

The bully wavered slightly as Kimberly stared at him, and then he looked over at the rest of them, all standing around Trini.

“Whatever,” he muttered, ducking his head and walking. As soon as he was out of sight Trini practically wilted, her entire body slumping as she exhaled. She stayed like that for a moment before standing properly, giving her friends a small smile.

“For once you guys had really good timing." Kimberly handed her back her bag, and Trini shouldered it gratefully. “Thanks, guys.”

Billy clapped her once on the shoulder, and Jason patted her arm. Zack reached out to cuff his fist gently against Trini’s jaw, more of a tap than anything, and Kimberly slipped her hand into Trini’s.

Protecting each other might be a little different when it wasn't from alien attackers, but they were handling themselves just fine.


End file.
